Maryland Volkssport Association
Minutes of Meeting
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Columbia, Maryland

Officers Present: President, Bob Schmick; Vice President, Skip Coburn; Treasurer, Kenneth Wilson; Secretary, Steve Arnett; Webmeister, Bill Guion.

Club Delegates: Bob Wolfe (Freestate Happy Wanderers), Skip Magee (CBCW), Rich Long (Columbia), Diane Messer (Annapolis Amblers), Skip Magee (C&O), Jim Hathaway (Seneca Valley), Sue Kenyon (BWC), Joanne Merkel (Piedmont Pacers), Chuck Merkel (Piedmont Pacers), Bing Inocenncio (Seneca Valley), Ed Branges (Seneca Valley), Jerry Baugher (Piedmont Pacers), Sandi Cahill (WDCAVC).

Guests: Bob Wright, Suzanne Wright, Susan Osbourne, and Nancy Davis.

The Meeting was called to order at 1:00 PM by President Bob Schmick

REPORTS

• Minutes from the December 31^st meeting were approved.
• Treasurer's Report: Treasurer Ken Wilson presented the financial statements for December, January, and March as well as the 2007 Profit/Loss Report, the 2007 Balance Sheet, and the 2008 Proposed Budget. The reports were approved as presented.
• AVA/IVV Update: Bob Wright presented the update on the AVA/IVV situation. There was an E.C. meeting of the AVA in Washington, D.C. in March 2008. The discussion concerning the IVV has quieted down, and it will be the IVV or nothing. The European federations met in February 2008, and discussed the IVV organization. One proposal was for three divisions; Europe (large), North America (small), and Asia (small). The IVV is looking at by-law reorganization something more like the AVA by-laws/rules. Europe would have to go through a court process for changes. Studying the rules pertains to how votes are processed. The Germans want to change the IVV award program. Curt Myron (AVA President) made some requests which were accepted, but a CVA request was declined. Everybody is going to "wait and see$quot; until the July IVV meeting. The IVV has a new web page.
• Regional Director: Skip Coburn presented an update on the Atlantic Region. He thanked the Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania state associations for their support in stopping AVA panic changes concerning the IVV situation. Curt Myron was concerned about Atlantic Region Clubs considering petitioning to join the IVV if the AVA secedes from the IVV. The next NEC meeting will be in Des Moines, IA in June. Give Skip any items desired for the agenda. Skip reported that Maryland is 5th in the U.S. with 79 events. Washington has the most, and Mississippi has the least with 2.
• Future of the Sport: No Report.
• C&O Canal: Skip Magee reported that the C&O and Western Maryland walks are beautiful walks. There is now a Rail Trail from Georgetown to Pittsburgh. There are 3 sanctioned events on the Great Allegheny Passage portion of the trail.
• Webmeister: Bill Guion reported that there are still 2005 AVA Convention reports on the AVA website. There is still a continuing discussion with Jackie at AVA HQ. Bill asked that the Clubs please complain about this situation. Bill still wants PDF versions of brochures to put on our website. Bill reported that he is moving to Georgia. He has placed a map of Maryland YREs on the MVA website. This map should be advertised within the Maryland clubs.
• 4-State Weekend: The 4-State Weekend will be held May 24 and 25 this year. The Saturday events will be in Woodstock, VA and Keyser, WV; and the Sunday events will be in Cumberland, MD and Bedford, PA.
• Global Events: Skip Coburn will be on a trip to Europe in 2010 in September, and needs a volunteer to be the POC for the Global events that year. He needs 8 or 9 volunteers this year to assist with the 2008 event to be held as usual in Patuxent Park in Maryland.

NEW BUSINESS

• Atlantic Region Conference 2010: The next regional conference may be held in Annapolis, Maryland. There would be 4 events. This issue of location should be discussed within the clubs.

CLUB REPORTS

• Annapolis Amblers: Thanked everyone for coming to the Ambler event today. The next Ambler event will be May 4th in Severna Park. The Amblers will celebrating their 20^th anniversary as a club next year, and planning is underway for a celebration. The Maryland bill approving Walking as the State Sport has been approved, but the date and place for the governor's signature has not been set. Bill Smith, the father of the bill, thanked all those who sent e-mails supporting the bill. The Annapolis club continues to sponsor group walks, which some do not like, but Bob thinks they are a significant plus for our sport.
• Chesapeake Bay Country Wanderers: The CBCW will hold a two day event in November in Watkins Regional Park near Upper Marlboro. There have been discussions of possible mergers of clubs, but Skip is concerned about the possible loss of clubs.
• Columbia Volksmarch Club: The Columbia summer events will be June 14, July 21, and August 16. There will be early start times for these events due to heat.
• Baltimore Walking Club: The BWC will hold events on May 10 in Towson, and July 13 in Elkton. A person will be permitted to do a BWC YRE in place of a missed Beltway event.
• Great Greenbelt Volksmarchers: Their next scheduled event in June has been moved from Beltsville to College Park at the airport.
• Freestate Happy Wanderers: The club had 200 participants at its recent event in Bowie. The next event will be the coming weekend Palotti Hish School. There will be booths, and will be a celebration of Bill Brabant and Linda Hassell's birthdays. A bus scheduled to go to Atlantic City, NJ on June 14^th is sold out.
• Piedmont Pacers: The club will hold a 20^th anniversary celebration kickoff event on May 18^th. An event in Frederick has been added to their schedule on September 27^th. They are attempting to locate former members to be included in their anniversary celebration.
• Potomac River Volksmarching Club: Their recent event on Bolling AFB drew 103 participants. They will hold the annual Global events again in September at Patuxent Park.
• Seneca Valley Sugarloafers: The next event will be May 3 in Kensington. The club is working on their schedule for 2009. The Cherry Blossom event went well.
• Washington DC Area Volksmarch Club: The WDCAVC will be holding their normal series of evening events prior to the monthly meetings this summer. The first walk is the coming Tuesday, and well be held monthly, except July, through September. The next weekend event will be May 31st at Fort Washington.
• World Wide Volkssport Tours: No Report.

NOTES

• Porta Potties: There will be a need for porta potties at the BWC event in Kingsville, and the Piedmont Pacer event at Morgan Run.
• Clubs are reminded to sanction as early as possible so that the events can go in the IVV book. There is a cutoff of September 1st for entries. Bob Wright stated there has been a major increase in AVA entries in the IVV book this year due increased efforts to get events listed there.
• MVA: A comment was made that it is important for someone to walk the trail, and test drive the instructions to the event, who did not create the instructions. Skip suggested providing group walks within weekend events to assist newbies to the sport.
• The next MVA meeting will be at the Global event at Patuxent Park on September 20^th at 1:00 PM.

The meeting was closed at 2:12 PM.




Respectfully submitted

Steven K. Arnett; Secretary